New Movies Come Home - Stream Your Heart Out!

My movie picks for home viewing this month are an eclectic quartet of titles that promise something for everyone.

Included in the mix are comedy (“Book Club”), classic blaxploitation cinema (“Super Fly”), sci-fi (“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”) and a dramatic thriller (“You Were Never Really Here”).

Book Club

I nicknamed this one “The Horny Old Lady Movie” before I saw it and then was pleasantly surprised that the film was better than expected. If you missed it in theaters, you’ll want to catch up with it digitally (on August 14) or on DVD (August 28).

Four Hollywood pros (Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen) play members of a book club who get their “engines running” again after Fonda’s character makes the fearsome foursome read “50 Shades of Grey.”

If you were alive in the ‘70s, you will recall that movie theaters routinely showed African-American comedies such as “Car Wash” and action flicks like “Shaft” that were dubbed “blaxploitation” films.

An inferior remake of one such movie, “Superfly,” was released in theaters earlier this year, but see the original 1972 film starring Ron O’Neal and Carl Lee as, respectively, a suave top-rung New York City drug dealer and the reluctant friend he enlists for one last big score.

Featuring music by the great Curtis Mayfield, “Super Fly” was made for less than half a million dollars and grossed sixty times that. Its Blu-ray came out this summer and is available from Warner Bros. at WBshop.com.

You Were Never Really Here

If, like me, you are a fan of the eccentric actor Joaquin Phoenix, then you’ll want to check out this intense dramatic thriller from director Lynne Ramsay that reminded me of “Taxi Driver,” an iconic Martin Scorcese movie circa 1976 that starred Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster.

Phoenix plays a traumatized veteran suffering from PTSD, who tracks down missing girls for a living. His latest case spirals out of control and uncovers a conspiracy that threatens his life and the reputations of high-level political figures.

As always, Phoenix commits to his role completely, and although the story is violent and shocking, “You Were Never Really Here” is also extremely moving and worthwhile.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

This odd little movie didn’t receive much of a release in theaters, but it’s worth seeking out, especially for fans of the director John Cameron Mitchell, the man behind “Shortbus” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

Starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, and Nicole Kidman, Mitchell’s new movie takes place in 1970’s London and follows a shy, suburban, teenaged boy who sneaks out to after-hours punk clubs with his friends.

One night, our young heroes meet some other teens that seem like they’re from another planet. Well – you guessed it – they are from another planet, and Sharp’s character falls for a beautiful alien played by Fanning.

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” is available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on August 14.